1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method capable of performing a process to reduce the amount of a recording material used to form a non-edge part of an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-176158 discloses a technique to achieve both high image quality and a low running cost by reducing the amount of a recording material (the number of dots formed with the recording material) while maintaining the high image quality. In this technique according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-176158, data of a non-edge part of an image is thinned by a particular thinning ratio thereby achieving a reduction in the amount of the recording material (the number of dots formed with the recording material) while maintaining high image quality whereby a reduction in the running cost is achieved.
However, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-176158, the non-edge part is thinned according to a constant thinning ratio regardless of an image size (such as a character size, a line image width, etc.). This causes a low image density of the non-edge part to become more conspicuous with increasing image size, which can cause a reduction in image quality.